Initially it gave me complete freedom, which has continued to grow and grow, resulting in a huge reduction in anxiety and fear. Once I got those two devils out of the way through love, insight and acceptance, many life improvements become apparent - greater creativity, clearer thinking, a sense of oneness with everything, both the divinely good and hellishly bad and everything in between, a greater sense of trust and confidence, the deep innocent sleep of a baby, the structuring of a life of enjoyment and continuous learning, the ability to open my heart completely and forcefully, the ability to find just about anything delightfully absurd and humorous, great relationships nearly everywhere, a sense of peace and freedom from persistent neediness, absence of a fear of death, insight into subtle cosmic forces like sidhis.
Everything is just a fuck of a lot better in every way. Like any human being I have had a deep desire for lasting fulfillment for my life. This is not to be confused by some meditation induced drug like high, but rather even under the most challenging circumstances I can see what is going on and deal with it directly, learn from it and continue on. Life is engaging and real and tactile and immediate and successful vs. the isolated arm's length experience of it I often had in the past. I love being awake 24 hours a day. I still sleep but am aware of it naturally. The only difference is that during sleep, time speeds by very quickly due to the absence of sensory differentiation. All of this adds up to an improvement in living and dying which is way, way more than the sum of its parts. Thanks for the invitation to share Ravi. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Ravi Yogi" <raviyogi@...> wrote: > > Dear Bill - thanks for your clarifications. > "In any event, I'm not sure I see how it is useful to become > enlightened, unless it makes a person a better human being; viz. > becoming a more loving person." > "It would be a welcome exercise to me personally if you could tell me > just a little bit about why you feel it was salutary for you". > I think these are very good questions and I will get back to you once I > have more time. In the meantime I would definitely be interested in Jim, > Rory, Xeno and other's views as well. > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, William Parkinson <ameradian2@> > wrote: > > > > Thank you so much Ravi for allowing me a peek into your experiences. > When I say 'questionable utility' what I mean is this. In the Eastern > tradition, as I understand it, the goal of Enlightenment is to  free > one from karmic bondage; that is to say, to end the endless cycle of > birth, death, and rebirth (the 'transmigration of the soul'). > Enlightenment is always viewed as something that dispels ignorance. And > what is this ignorance? Far more often than not it is the idea that > dualism is illusory. But what if there is no such thing as reincarnation > (as I believe)? What good does the Enlightenment do then? And what if > the phenomenological approach to religion is the worst possible way to > proceed to truth? I should really take the time to write of a compelling > example of this error in religion using the example if the Mormon faith. > In the light of evidence from mitochondrial DNA we can now say that > Joseph Smith, and everything he taught, was completely false > > (there were other lines of compelling evidence that converge on the > same conclusion). And yet Mormons, because of a phenomenon called the > 'burning bosom,' nevertheless, believe wholeheartedly that it is still > true. When I get the time I think I will write a post on this. Hopefully > it will be edifying to everyone on the forum.  In any event, I'm not > sure I see how it is useful to become enlightened, unless it makes a > person a better human being; viz. becoming a more loving person. Of > course, this is only my personal belief.  I would be fascinated to > hear anything you can tell me about what value this period in your life > has had for you. I am always endlessly fascinated by the religious > convictions and scruples of people no matter what the religious > tradition. You are one of the few people I have ever encountered who can > say that they entered into a state of consciousness that was at least > close to, if not entirely synonymous with, the classical > > definition of enlightenment.  It would be a welcome exercise to > me personally if you could tell me just a little bit about why you feel > it was salutary for you. In any event, I thank you deeply Ravi for > sharing your experiences with me. I hope to hear more from you soon! > > Cheers > > Bill > > >
